1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to oral hygiene appliances and more specifically to devices which promote oral hygiene by removing debris from one's tongue.
2. Antecedents of the Invention
The general public has been highly conscious of oral hygiene, not only from a social standpoint, but additionally in its relationship to overall health. While basic oral hygiene devices such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, tooth powder, interdental stimulators, interproximal brushes, dental floss, toothpicks and dental picks, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,548, have been in use through the years, in recent years there has been a proliferation of do-it-yourself oral hygiene cosmetic products, including various tooth whitening preparations, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,268 as well as tooth polishers, for improvement of the appearance of one's mouth.
The public has also been cognizant of the need to combat mouth malodor in daily social encounters. Various factors have been attributed to the generation of oral malodor including improper brushing, failure to brush and/or failure to floss. Other factors include the presence of various compounds in the oral cavity which are alleged to cause malodor, such as hydrogen sulfide.
It has also been recognized that minute food particles and debris as well as odor producing bacteria resided on the tongue, particularly on the dorsal (upper) surface thereof, i.e. the dorsum.
The dorsum has been characterized as a rough surface which is covered with papillae. The anterior of the dorsum is covered with fungiform papillae and the posterior (pharyngeal) surface is covered with fungiform papillae interspersed with filiform papillae.
Food particles and the breakdown products of foods became lodged in crevices between the papillae. Dense bacterial populations and the many bacterial species resident on the dorsum have been known to colonize. It is believed that the dorsum is the source of most of the bacteria in the oral cavity and the source of oral malodor.
The prevalent use of mouthwashes, breath mints and breath sprays did not alleviate or reduce the source of malodor, but merely served to mask the condition.
Various tongue scrapers such as those disclosed in the patents to Heisinger (U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,864), Andrews (U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,478), Nack (U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,179) and Bhaskar (U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,592) are among the devices which have been suggested for cleaning the tongue to remove food debris and other material accumulated on the dorsum.
Although such devices were capable of scraping the dorsum and loosening debris accumulated thereon, absent was the ability to adequately scrape the pharyngeal tissue surface due to the tendency of any scraping appliance to induce a gag reflex. Additionally, treatment of existing malodor conditions required the employment of a mouthwash or other breath freshener since tongue scrapers provided primarily prophylactic, rather than immediate relief.
Further, none of the prior devices gained a measure consumer acceptance, either because they were too difficult to use, to costly to manufacture, or were otherwise unsuited for general use.